In recent years, China has seen the establishment of judicial institutions specifically for the adjudication of environmental cases. These institutions have been set-up throughout the country and include environmental courts, environmental protection tribunals and environmental collegiate benches. These environmental courts exhibit the growing role of judicial authorities in resolving environmental disputes. The courts have accepted and rendered decisions on a small number of environmental public interest litigation cases; these court decisions have substantially improved the environment and have already created a promising precedent for utilizing judicial channels for enforcing environmental protection.

In practice, however, the environmental courts have encountered considerable difficulties and challenges. This paper seeks to summarize the lessons and experiences of the environmental courts throughout different regions of the country and explore the role of these courts in promoting environmental public interest litigation. We believe this analysis and information is useful for amending and improving environmental laws in China. Furthermore, this report is beneficial enabling judicial authorities to utilize their special functions in the protection of the environment, punishment of illegal actions that harm the environment, and supervision of government enforcement. The All-China Environment Federation (ACEF) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) jointly set up a project team to complete the field research in this report.